To: 
From: "Jay  P Hailey" 
Reply-To: trekcreative{at}yahoogroups.com


Title: Long Arms
Author: Jay P. Hailey (jayphailey{at}tic1.net) and K.A. Strickland Series:
Vista City/Four Corners
Part: 09/13
Rating [PG] (Some Violence)

 The Airport in Atlanta was busy and crowded.  Karla and the Vista City
officers moved through it swiftly.  It helped that Karla knew what they were doing.

 In the baggage claim area they met Jim Mosley.  He towered over the
detectives and shook hands with them all.  Then they got to supervise two
people from the Airport staff loading the box of Marlene Summer's remains
into a blank white delivery van.

 Deputy Crenfield was standing next to one of the three marked Four Corners
Sheriff cars.  "Karla. Nice to see you back."

 "Roy."  Karla acknowledged.  "These are Sonja Traveler,
Angelo Mancuso and
Scott Ashby from Vista City."

 "Pleased to meet you."  Roy Crenfield said doubtfully. 
"Nice of you folks
to escort the Sheriff and Marlene home."

 "Besides escorting us home, they wanted ask some questions about Marlene's
past."  Karla informed him.

 That earned a cold look from the Four Corners Deputy.  "What for?"

 "We're investigators.  We look for clues."  Angelo explained.

 "Well, I don't guess you're going to find anything."  Crenfield said.

 "That's what I said, but it couldn't hurt to humor them.  You never know,
Roy.  We might learn something."  Karla said.

 "Huh."  Crenfield grunted.  "Guess not."

 Mosley came over.  "The box is loaded.  Who rides in the black and white
and who rides with me?"

 "If you don't mind, Your Honor, I'd like to ride with you."  Angelo said.

 "Only if you promise to call me Jim."  Mosley said.  "I'm
not comfortable
with 'Your Honor'."

 "Figure about the time you get comfortable with it is time to boot you out
and turn it over to someone less comfortable."  Karla grinned.

 "I'm ready to retire right now."  Mosley said "Show me
someone else as well
qualified to handle it."

 "Nope.  You're stuck with it."  Karla said.  "Lets get
going.  I want to
see Danny."

 Scott and Sonja got into the back of the patrol car while Angelo and Mosley
climbed into the delivery van.

 Crenfield got into the driver's seat and Karla got into the shotgun seat
and the two vehicles moved off through urban Atlanta.

-*-

 Georgia was hot and muggy.  If felt like the inside of a green house to
Angelo.  It didn't take too long to drive through Atlanta and get onto the
two lane highway leading out to Four Corners.  The vegetation looked
riotous, extremely green and made out of broad, flat pieces to Angelo.  The
setting sun cast shadows and sunbeams randomly though the tree cover.  It
was actually quite beautiful.

 "Did you know Marlene Summers?" Angelo asked.

 "You don't waste any time, do you, Detective..."

 "Mancuso.  Call me Angelo."

 "Okay Angelo.  I didn't know Marlene Summers too well.  I am about twenty
years older than she was and the time sort of told.  I could identify her
by sight and give you a rough outline of her life. But I wasn't privy to
any of the details."  Mosley explained.

 "A rough outline would be nice." Angelo said.

 "Didn't you ask Karla?"  Mosley asked.

 "I did, but she had other things on her mind." Angelo said.

 'I bet.  Anyway, Marlene Summers was an interesting person.  She had a
couple of tough breaks growing up.  Her mother died in child birth and her
father was, frankly, not terribly useful up until then.  After Matthew lost
Libby he just went to hell.  Still lives in a shack up in the hills and
drinks himself to sleep every night.  Marlene managed to get some sort of
life together though.  In High School I remember her being the star of the
home coming dance.  She sang at the dance and brought the house down.
That's how we knew that Marlene was really something."  Mosley
explained.

 "What happened after High School?"

 "Well things kinda got rocky for Marlene.  The town offers scholarships to
those people who want to pursue degrees, especially in medicine or science.
Marlene was more interested in music and I guess an organized course of
study wasn't her cup of tea.  We have a radio station here in town, and
Marlene worked there for a while.  She was the morning DeeJay, and even
used the equipment in the station to record a couple of CD's.  But she was
really limited by our..." Mosley waggled the upper set of hands, the
ones he wasn't driving with, "condition.  She felt that she couldn't
really move around. Dig into the music scene, get to know people, join a
band, go on tour or anything outside of Four Corners."

 "But you have people with advanced degrees in medicine and the sciences.
Not to mention truck drivers and a nation wide business.   How is this all
handled when undercover?"

 "Well, Sir, before The Secret was blown, our truck drivers and outside
workers were generally able to hide their lower set of arms.  At least
temporarily.  That, and a few discrete allies in the outside world and we
were able to get by with it for a surprisingly long time.  Our students do
most of their studying remotely, by mail or now, by computer.  A few of the
allies I mentioned are tutors from the University of Georgia.  Our students
only had to go to the actual campus for a six month cram before being
awarded their degree and coming home.  We could usually afford private
housing for our students on the campus, so hiding the arms wasn't a 24 hour
a day problem.  These days we have enough teachers of our own so that we're
in negotiations to open our own branch of the University right here in Four
Corners."

 "But that didn't operate for Marlene." Angelo prodded.

 "Nope.  We don't force anyone out of Four Corners if they don't want to go.
Before The Secret came out we actively discouraged anyone from risking it.
The fewer who were outside the less chance there was of accidental
discovery.  Marlene wasn't that sure of herself.  I was Sheriff at that
time.  She came to me and asked my opinion.  I reminded her that if she
were caught that it would be the end, not only for her but all of us. I
said she shouldn't leave unless she felt certain that she could live up to
the responsibility one way or another.  Marlene evidently didn't feel like
she wanted the pressure because she stayed.  Then she hooked up with Kyle
Warner and seemed to be on the verge of settling down.  She did continue to
work at the radio station and sing for us.  There was some hint of trouble
with Kyle and she broke up with him.  Then The Secret got undone and we
were all distracted."

 "I heard a little bit about that at the time..." Angelo temporized.

 "It was all over the media!  You couldn't get away from it!"  Mosley said,
outraged.

 "I was in training at Quantico during part of that time.  As for the rest,
well, I don't pay much attention to the media."  Angelo said.

 "What were at Quantico for? Isn't that where they train FBI
agents?" Mosley
asked.

 "Yes.  I was there for some training in how to handle... special crimes.
For a while I thought I might  be going to the FBI.  As it was, I got some
valuable training that helps me with my current job." Angelo
explained.

 "Ah.  Anyway, when The Secret was blown, things went sort of nuts for a
while.  We had some drive by shootings, a serious media circus, and general
insanity."  Mosley continued.   "When it calmed down again, We
discovered
that it had been harder on some than it had been on others.  Marlene was
withdrawn, didn't look too healthy.  She stayed at home a lot.  She went
back to Kyle and he said she wasn't handling the stress to well.  He tried
to nurse her through it, but it's hard to help people when they don't want
it."  Mosley shook his head.  "Then she left.  Up and left
without a word."

 "Well that gives me some ideas about where to look, next."  Angelo said.
"Thank you."

 Mosley shook his head.  "I know what you're thinking Detective.  There's no
one in Four Corners who wished Marlene any harm.  If there was I would have
known it.  Karla would have known it. The whole Sheriff's department would
have know it.  Hell most of Four Corners would have known it.  It's small
town and you can't hide anything in a situation like that."

 Angelo nodded.  "Of course.  However, I have to make sure every step is
taken completely and without any hesitation.  Or else when we finally catch
the murderer the case will fall apart."

 -*-

 The conversation in the Patrol car was much shorter and more tense.

 "So the big city cops are going to come in and show us how it's done,
huh?"
Crenfield said.

 "That's not fair, Roy.  They want the same thing we want. To catch up to
whoever killed Marlene." Karla said.

 "Then why are they here, Karla?"

 "We're here to find a motive for the killing."  Sonja said.

 "The motive seems pretty clear to me."  The Deputy said coldly.

 "Excellent.  What is it?" Scott asked.

 "Marlene was killed because the idea of people with four arms scares you."
Crenfield said bluntly.  "Hell, you people were lynching each other
because of the difference in skin color thirty years ago.  That seems like
a very minor difference to me." Crenfield gestured with the hands he
wasn't driving with to make the point.

 "Roy!"  Karla yelled.  "I can't believe you!  Does your
Momma know you're
this rude to guests?"

 Crenfield shook his head.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to be rude.  A lot of
us think that the killing was racially motivated, pure and simple.  And now
here you are digging into our town about it."

 Scott sighed.  "Deputy, would it soothe you at all to hear that I have
people in Vista City working on that angle?"

 Crenfield was cool.  "Not really."

 "Deputy, I have promised these people our full cooperation.  You will
cooperate fully and unstintingly, am I clear?"  Karla said dangerously.

 "You're the Sheriff."  Crenfield sighed.

 "You damned betcha, Roy.  Let's not forget that, hmmm?"  Karla snapped.

-*-

 "One more question."  Angelo said.

 "Shoot."

 "Why is the mayor of the town driving the truck and manhandling the
cargo?"

 Mosley laughed.  "Force of habit I guess.  Once upon a time we had to
carefully limit our exposure to the outside world.  We had to go into
Atlanta on a regular basis for shipments and errands, but only the smallest
number of people necessary to get the job done went and if possible, the
most experienced at moving around undercover.  A lot of the time that was
me.  This time, out of habit I guess, I picked the person with the best
combination of factors to allow for the job.  And since I'm the Mayor, no
one argued with me about it."

-*-


 The highway almost passed by Four Corners completely.  This was by design.
There were gas stations and motels in Four Corners.  However, they tried to
down play the fact and encourage drivers who could to press on towards a
better lit town.

 The patrol car and then the delivery truck made the turn and drove down a
stretch of two lane road into a Norman Rockwell painting.

 Four Corners was laid out in a solid grid pattern, of smaller scale than
was usual in the late 20th century.  In 1912 when the founding fathers of
the town laid it out, they had no conception of the social changes that
were even then beginning to stir, thanks to the automobile.

 The blocks and streets were laid out for people, horses and wagons.  Some
concession had been made for automobiles after the fact but not a lot.

 The buildings were made out of the cheapest and most common material of the
day, red brick.  Between red brick and poured concrete Four Corners looked
like it wanted to be a college town more than anything else.

 Then only concessions to normal times were the sodium street lights that
were threatening to turn on and add a yellow glow to the town, concrete
barriers that blocked the street in front of the old court house and a
modern office building grafted into an old store.  The main drag of town
was now no longer a straight through run to the highway.  It made a drive
by shooting seem less easy than before.

 The main drag of town was appropriately called Main Street and the single
lane residential streets that peeled off of it were named for trees or presidents.

 The small motorcade passed most of the way through town until the main drag
became highway 61 again.  There, behind a couple of turns in the road and a
gentle hill with the hyperactive Georgia greenery all over it was a gas
station and a brick hotel flanking the road.

 The motel was called the "Evergreen", and the gas station was called
"Marshall's" both seemed to have avoided any entanglements with
any sort of franchise.

 "We're here." Crenfield said.

 Both Scott and Sonja viewed the hotel with well practiced eyes.  Depending
on how it was run the hotel would either be a dive or a cute place with
lots of personality.

 The delivery van pulled up.

 "You're storing the body at the Evergreen Hotel?"  Angelo asked.

 "Nope.  Marcy would have a fit.  We're dropping you off now.  The
undertakers was back there a ways on Spruce and Main.  We'll get Marlene
settled on the way back."  Mosley explained.

 "Ah.  Thank you."  Angelo said.

 "You're welcome."

 The detectives walked into the coffee shop on the forward ground level of
the hotel.

 Scott and Sonja smelled the cooking wafting out of the kitchen.  They
exchanged glances.  "Nice."  Scott said.

 "Personality" Sonja concluded.

 "Smells good."  Angelo added.


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